Smotherly love
Monday, May 15, 2000
"Everybody Loves Raymond," 9 tonight, CBS
By VIRGINIA ROHAN
Staff Writer
Ponder the marriage of Frank and Marie Barone and you may just breathe a sigh of relief. There but for the grace of God go I.
But Doris Roberts doesn't view the bickering, snickering elders on "Everybody Loves Raymond" that way at all. Where viewers see a lifetime of misery, Roberts sees a strong connection between her smothering Marie and Peter Boyle's ornery Frank.
"To me, the dread of my life would be to be married for all those years and then go out to a restaurant and never have anything to say to each other. Isn't that the most heartbreaking thing?" she says. "Well, these two people have a lot to say to each other."
Indeed.
Frank and Marie -- who live directly across the street from their son Raymond -- are throwbacks to a time of "take my wife, please" and ball-and-chain jokes.
Take, for example, the classic episode in which Frank sold one of their twin grave plots for a little pocket money. When she protested, he bellowed, "Till death do us part, Marie, and after that, you're on your own."
Roberts thinks one reason she and Boyle work so well together is that both are theater-trained. Then, too, there's their natural chemistry.
"We look like we've been married for 45 years," Roberts says. "We are now so ensconced in our characters that we know each other's rhythms, which are especially important in comedy. The trust is there. We're not cardboard characters. We're three-dimensional. I could almost finish his sentences."
Marie Barone is also a coddling mother to Robert (Brad Garrett) and Raymond (Ray Romano) and a mostly meddlesome mother-in-law to Ray's beleaguered wife, Debra (Patricia Heaton). Marie, a great cook, makes many digs about Debra's inadequacies in the kitchen.
But Roberts understands her character's true motivation. "These women were never taught anything except to get married at a young age, have children, take care of the children and the household," she says. "When children begin to toddle, they're toddling away from you, and when they leave your house, these women can feel they have no.
"They don't know what else to do with their time, so they get into your life. But it stems from love. That's why you can laugh at Marie. I think my contribution is to walk that very fine line, so you walk with me and find that humor, even though she's a pain in the neck and a meddler."
Occasionally, Marie can surprise us, too. In last week's hilarious episode about Debra's Jekyll and Hyde transformation during PMS, Momma Barone wound up smacking Ray for not being supportive enough.
Roberts has high praise for Heaton.
"She's wonderful. Instead of a boring wife in the background, she is a very important character in this structure," she says. "I think it is the best family ensemble on the scene. I think 'Frasier' is brilliantly witty and wonderful, but for an all-American family, we are across the board the best ensemble."
When Roberts says this -- during a telephone conversation -- it does not come across as boastful, but rather as an objective assessment from a veteran of 24 feature films and a number of Broadway productions and television projects. (Her long TV credit list includes a regular role on "Remington Steele," a recurring role on "Dream On," and an Emmy-winning guest stint on "St. Elsewhere.")
And, judging from the Nielsen ratings, legions of fans agree with Roberts' assessment of "Raymond," which has grown into one of television's finest comedies.
"I get the most affectionate reaction from people," Roberts says. "Everywhere, people go, 'Oh, my God, you're just like my mother.' And I can also tell you that Hillary Clinton thought I was funny."
The two recently met, she explains, when she, Clinton, and Anjelica Huston all appared on a local CBS news program. "It was a great hour," Roberts says. "We were all three power ladies."
Roberts also heaps kudos on the show's writers, on Romano, and all her co-stars.
"I think Ray's extraordinary. I not only think he's an extremely funny man, but what you see is who he is. You want to take care of him. And I think his growth as an actor has been enormous.
"I've been in the business 40 years, and it's a joy to go to work, because everyone respects and trusts in one another. No one is acting out this crazy star trip," says the 69-year-old actress. "We're there to work, and the result is what you see on that screen. It's a pleasure, and I'm so happy that I have it at this time of my life, when there are so few roles for women my age."